


A Four Strand Braid

by fenellaevangela



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Background Relationships, F/F, Getting Together, Sedoretu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-24 02:06:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8352061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fenellaevangela/pseuds/fenellaevangela
Summary: Technically a sedoretu needs two men and two women. Patty didn't think that was a rule you could break until she met Jillian Holtzmann.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silly_cleo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silly_cleo/gifts).



> Silly_cleo, you said you like unconventional family units and polyamory so I decided to write a sedoretu AU. If you (or anyone else) aren't familiar with sedoretu, there's a super quick explanation [on the Fanlore page](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Sedoretu)!

Even in a city like New York being a ghostbuster didn’t mean going out and hunting dangerous or even disruptive ghosts every day. Sometimes it meant going a week without having to bust any ghosts at all, not even a little, and although Erin and Abby were happy to have time to continue their theoretical paranormal work and Patty’s research into the local ghost lore had only just scratched the surface, all three of them were also pleased to be able to take the opportunity to go home at the end of a normal work day instead of dealing with the irregular hours that ghosts tended to involve. It wasn’t until day three of blissful peace that Patty realized that their receptionist was still settled in at his desk when she was heading out the door, without any signs of leaving. Thinking back, she was pretty sure the situation had been the same the day before and she had a sneaking suspicion about the day before that. She almost decided to ignore it, but turned around at the last moment.

“Hey, Kev?”

“Hmm?” Kevin looked up from his cell phone. “Is there something I can help you with, Patty? Get you a cup of coffee?”

“No, no,” Patty said. “I just wanted to make sure . . . you did get that apartment for real, right? You’re not living here. To be clear.”

“No. Why?” asked Kevin.

“I just haven’t noticed you heading home for the last few day, wanted to make sure everything was okay.” 

“Oh, everything’s fine!” Kevin assured her. “I’ve been finishing late.”

Patty nodded. “You know you don’t have to hang around if none of us is here, right? We have voicemail.”

Kevin frowned. “But one of you _is_ here,” he said, pointing in the general direction of the lab.

Abby and Erin always said goodbye when they left for the night – and had, almost an hour before - so there was only one person who that could mean. “Holtzmann’s still here?”

“Yep,” said Kevin, popping the ‘p’. “She won’t be leaving for hours, probably.”

Patty rolled her eyes. Holtzmann had already been building some sort of contraption when Patty had stopped in the lab on her way to her office that morning, so who even knew how early the other woman had arrived. A good bet was that while the other three had been taking the opportunity to recharge during the lull in ghostbusting, Holtzmann had been sleeping _less_ without the regular excursions to distract her from her various projects. The last thing Patty wanted was for the resident engineer to be sleep deprived the next time they were wielding experimental weaponry. She turned towards the stairs, glancing back over her shoulder as she walked.

“You go home now if you want, Kev. I’ll take care of Holtzmann.”

Kevin beamed his thousand watts smile at her. “Thanks, Patty. See you tomorrow?”

“You bet,” Patty said, and headed up to the lab.

Holtzmann’s head popped up from below the nearest work table as Patty opened the door. 

“Oh. Hey, Pats,” she said, only remaining up for a moment before descending back out of sight.

Patty rolled her eyes. “Well, hello to you, too,” she said.

Holtzmann appeared again, this time far enough above the worktable for the wrench in her hand to be visible. She cocked it to one side. “Ooh, wait, did that sound dismissive? Rude? Sorry, I thought you might be Erin. Thwarted expectations, you know.”

“Yeah, your girlfriend’s already gone home for the day – and so has Abby and I was heading out too, except Kevin tells me you’ve been keeping him late all week?”

This time Holtzmann was the one who rolled her eyes. “I’m not _keeping_ him; he just won’t _leave_.”

“The point is that you’re staying late,” Patty said. “Look, I just wanted to make sure you’re sleeping? Eating? Not making anything too . . . exciting?”

“Pfft, you don’t have to worry about that, Pats,” explained Holtzmann, finally getting completely out from under the workbench and moving over to a half-constructed proton pack sitting at one end. “Erin’s already insisted, and no offence, but she’s got more sway than you do, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh,” said Patty. “Well, good.”

Holtzman locked eye contact with Patty and winked. “Do you know what I mean?”

“. . . I get it,” Patty said.

“It means we - ”

“I _get it_ ,” said Patty. “I’m glad you’re trying out the whole work-life balance thing; I didn’t want to have to drag your ass out of here. Does this mean you two are getting serious then?”

For an instant Holtzmann dropped all semblance of focus on the half-built proton pack in front of her and turned all her attention towards Patty. With a sly smile she said, “You could say that. My cat already adopted her.”

Patty didn’t know what to say to that. She decided to deal with the least thrilling part of the statement. 

“You have a cat?”

“Well, my neighbour has a cat,” Holtzmann admitted. “He’s _basically_ mine, though, and he let Erin pet him last Saturday.”

Patty perked up. “Are you two looking for a couple guys to complete a sedoretu, then?”

“Oh,” said Holtzmann. She turned back to the proton pack and resumed tinkering. “Nah, we weren’t thinking about it.”

“Ah, I know it can be tough finding all four, but you’ve got options. Hell, what about Kevin? I think he said something about already having a boyfriend. I know you two don’t have much in common, but Erin’s into him, right?” Patty shrugged. “Worth thinking about.”

Although Patty was aiming for nonchalance, the shrug came out forced and no one who was paying attention would have believed that she wasn’t keenly interested in seeing the other woman’s reaction. Matchmaking was an essential part in the creation of almost every sedoretu – getting four people together in the right combination could be tricky - and Patty was proud to have played that part a few times during her time with the transportation authority. The chance to do so again had her visibly excited - but Holtzmann, elbow deep in the guts of the proton pack, hadn’t even looked up.

She continued to not look up as she gave Patty her response. “I don’t, uh, date dudes.”

“Oh. _Oh_!” Patty’s previous matchmaking efforts had never hit this stumbling block, but she had certainly heard of it. “Hey, that’s cool. I support monosexual rights.”

Holtzmann threw up a hand sign that Patty wasn’t quite able to decipher, and continued to tinker with the machinery in front of her. Patty took that as as good a goodbye as any and left to go home for the night. She had a chili dinner and a Netflix backlog waiting for her.

* * *

It was after the lull had ended and the ghostbusters had been catching minor spirits back to back for a long, grueling say when Holtzmann startled Patty by sliding up next to her in the kitchen back at their headquarters, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Jeez – Holtzmann! You can’t sneak up on people in this line of work! We _talked_ about this.”

Holtzmann leaned back, resting both her elbows on the kitchen counter.

“So, I’ve been thinking about our conversation.”

“Our – about sneaking up on people?” Patty asked.

Holtzmann shook her head. “About mine and Erin’s hypothetical sedoretu.”

Patty sighed. “That was last week, Holtzy.”

This time Holtzmann nodded. “I hear you, I hear you. But _Kevin_?” She laughed. “I can’t believe you suggested I marry Kevin.”

Patty bristled. “It was just an idea, man, I didn’t say you should propose or anything. And Erin _is_ into him, you can’t deny that.”

“True,” agreed Holtzmann, scrunching her face up briefly in distaste. “But Erin’s already dating Abby, anyway. She doesn’t need _another_ partner. Gotta leave some time to bust ghosts, know what I’m saying?”

That derailed Patty’s train of thought immediately.

“She’s dating another Evening woman?”

Holtzmann quirked an eyebrow. “Uh, well she’s not going to date a _Morning_ woman, Pats. Yikes.”

“Of course I know that,” said Patty, exasperated. “But you don’t mind Erin dating a woman besides you?”

“Nah. Why would I? It’s the same as if she was dating,” the scrunched face made a return, “Kevin.”

Holtzmann constantly said things that Patty found . . . weird. But this wasn’t on the same level of peculiarity that she had come to expect from Holtzmann’s eccentric personality. Instead, Patty was just surprised. 

“But it’s not that same. That’s, like, your _spot_ ,” Patty said. 

“Well, I guess?” said Holtzmann, drawing out the final syllable. “I mean, if we we’re going to get married we’d be jostling for the same line on the marriage certificate. But no paperwork, no problem. Know what I mean?”

“So you really don’t think it’s, I don’t know, weird? Dating two women?”

Holtzmann snorted. “Uh, no.”

Patty suddenly had a strong suspicion that Holtzmann was speaking from experience. “Have you . . .?”

“Yeah, I’ve dated two women at a time,” said Holtzmann. “I’m gay, Pats, not _monogamous_ , for chrissake.”

Patty had never thought of it before, but as soon as Holtzmann spoke she realized that it made perfect sense. Serious relationships were just naturally unbalanced with less than four people, and if everyone else was expected to have two romantic partners in their lives, why would monosexuals be any different? Patty was only surprised that she hadn’t met groups with different gender configurations before. She fleetingly wondered which people she had met who were in relationships like that but never divulged the fact to her – Erin and Abby certainly hadn’t mentioned the fact that they were dating.

Holtzmann drew Patty out of her thoughts with an abrupt turn in the conversation. 

“So back to what I was I was saying - ”

“Oh?” Patty hazarded a guess. “About . . . monogamy?”

Holtzmann rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. “About our chat last week? You wanted to hook me up with Kevin’s boy toy?”

“I did _not_ \- ”

“Uh huh, uh huh,” Holtzmann said, waving a hand dismissively. “You also mentioned something about dragging me out of here to eat or sleep.”

“. . . I guess I did,” Patty agreed. “So?”

“Soooo, Erin’s busy with Abby tonight. You wanna blow this popsicle stand and take me out to eat? Or . . . sleep?” Holtzmann waggled her eyebrows.

Patty couldn’t believe her ears. “Are you seriously asking me out, Holtzmann?”

“Technically I’m responding to you asking _me_ out, but there is a date involved, yes.”

This conversation just kept throwing Patty for a loop. “Oh, I was asking you out, was I?”

“Mmmhmm, you just didn’t know it yet,” Holtzmann said. “Now that you know I’m partially single and ready to mingle, you’ll realize our natural chemistry is ready to culminate in dinner. Or - ”

“Dinner will be fine,” Patty quickly interrupted. “I’m not doing ‘or’ on a first date, you got it Holtzy?”

Pushing off from the counter, Holtzmann grinned and cocked out an elbow for Patty to hold. Patty glanced at it for a moment before shrugging and looping her arm through Holtzmann’s; the angle was awkward with their height different, but the gesture was sweet.

“Understood,” Holtzmann said.

They left the kitchen and began to head out.

“So are we talking second date or third?”

“We’re talking wait and see how things _go_ , damn.”

Kevin waved at them as they left the building arm in arm.


End file.
